MG4 in Australia

[PeterM]

Another thing I notice is the LKA sensitivity and AEB sensitivity is now low by default (it starts with low even if i change it and shut down car) where as others on forum said it was medium? Must be the new software I got? Maybe after reports of phantom braking.

Correct, our numbering is slightly different. I've got R05 too and it seems to have similar bugs to those reported in the UK R33 for example.

What bugs are you talking about?

I'm also curious about this.
My Excite 51 is running R05 and I haven't experienced widespread "bugs".
Interestingly when I collected my car LKA and AEB were both set to medium. I changed them to low and the setting has persisted ever since.

 

[MGMG4GK]

Hi all. Not sure if there are any Aussies here but I guess I'll try.

So the MG4 EV just began selling in Australia 2 weeks ago. Took one for a test drive yesterday and really liked it. Looking to get the base model 51kW. Do we know if this batch is identical to the ones UK/EU got last year or they have made some improvements?

After doing some research, the issues that I am mostly concerned about are:

1. Some had deformed undertray beneath the rear motor. The ytuber said it is defect and covered under warranty. Can anyone in Aus with MG4 had a look at this and can confirm it has been addressed?
2. Jerky and potentially dangerous lane keeping assistance (LKA) that forced most users to turn it off. Has a patch rolled out that improved LKA or allowed you to turn it off permanently?

Any other feedback and people's thoughts are appreciated.

Edit: Since this thread is getting a lot of traction, I thought it might be a good idea for fellow aussies to share our honest initial experience with the MG4.

Hi all,

Got mine 3 months ago. Essence 64kWh Camden Grey.

So far, so good. Mostly driving to work/home. Will be doing a trip to Qld. Be interesting to see how that goes (750km trip via New England Highway). Have plotted some stops for EV charging.

Only annoying thing so far is the LKA, at times it wants to correct but not required.

I normally drive in Normal mode with regen set to 3. Average economy is 14.3kWh/100km over 3200kms driven. And that's using A/C as well on most trips.

I'm curious about the energy consumption figures, it doesn't make sense sometimes.
One trip I consumed 17kWh, 4kWh was used for A/C and 7kWh was regen. But the kilometres driven and energy used accounts for the 17kWh. So, where did the 7kWh regen energy go? 4kWh to the A/C? and that leaves 3kWh missing.

Be good if we could extract the battery analytics somehow, something akin to Tesla Powerwall (for those who have one).

Anyway, see how the next 6y 9m of warranty goes......

 

[ozzz]

I have just completed 1.5k in 6 weeks very happy only using the granny charger during the day from my solar system.
no warranty problems so far.

 

[wattmatters]

Had our first real night drive last night, from Coffs back home to Bellingen, about half an hour or so on the highway.

The auto high-beam was insane, constantly flipping on/off. I mean it was good at turning off when detecting an oncoming set of headlights, but it was also good at turning off when detecting anything. After a while I just went to old school manual control of high beam.

Else, having a bit more luck with Carplay of late. Not long enough to say it's definitely better but I have tried yet another new cable (a 50 cm one from Apple) and I took some time to give the port in my phone a clean out (wasn't bad).

I've cancelled my ABRP subscription, the $8/month makes little sense given the charge station recommendations are not reliable while the voice used they use for nav is so depressing. Been trying Waze of late, it's a bit more upbeat.

Another pic of the car, this one from different angle. Needs a clean but it's been too hot for that!

 

[ozzz]

Had our first real night drive last night...
Another pic of the car, this one from different angle. Needs a clean but it's been too hot for that!

Definitely too hot for car cleaning, at least the charging flap is not freezing shut like MG owners in UK ??

 

[Archev]

Definitely to hot for car cleaning, at least the charging flap is not freezing shut like MG owners in uk ??

Aye but look on the bright side - it’s also too cold here for car cleaning ?

 

[ozzz]

Aye but look on the bright side - it’s also too cold here for car cleaning ?

I'm also retired, I bought the MG4 as I have heaps of solar power that I sell for 7c a kWh to electric company AGL so makes sense to use it for transport.
My second vehicle is very nostalgic 1972 lowlight Kombi not very green but it is hardly used.
Was so hot my tomatos started cooking in my greenhouse 50 degrees C ??and nearly 40 outside last week had to dump all my seedlings.

 

[PeterM]

tomatos started cooking in my greenhouse 50 degrees C ??and nearly 40 outside last week had to dump all my seedlings.

My beefstake tomatoes (and even a couple of the cucumbers) were cooked in the 44 degrees last Saturday. Unfortunately 40 degrees again on Thursday didn't make things any better!

The MG4 is a little worse off after the high temps too. Both the front and rear black logo cover outsides I put on lost some of there adhesion and I had to remove them.
I've grown to like the combined look.... might keep it this way!

 

[leonkernan]

What bugs are you talking about?

Maybe I should have said quirks instead of bugs.

Things like the Bluetooth doesn't work, settings get forgotten, things like that.

 

[markinoz]

Hi. I finally got delivery of my MG4 Excite 51 last week.
Generally very happy with it so far. I'm planning to install a fast charger at home some point, but in the meantime I've been relying on the 'Granny Charger'. I'm finding this much slower than expected. I assumed it would draw 10 amps and therefore charge at around 2.4kW. The charge rate I'm getting is much less than this at around 1.4kW though. What charging speeds are other people getting?
I'm wondering if there's a problem with my charger and/or car.
I'm wondering whether the charger is designed to only draw around 6 amps in case other appliances are on the same circuit. In my case, there's nothing else on the same circuit, so I'm wondering whether it's worth buying a third party charger that's capable of drawing the full 10 amps if this would solve the problem. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

[Calm as]

Hi. I finally got delivery of my MG4 Excite 51 last week.
Generally very happy with it so far. I'm planning to install a fast charger at home some point, but in the meantime I've been relying on the 'Granny Charger'. I'm finding this much slower than expected. I assumed it would draw 10 amps and therefore charge at around 2.4kW. The charge rate I'm getting is much less than this at around 1.4kw though. What charging speeds are other people getting?
I'm wondering if there's a problem with my charger and/or car.
I'm wondering whether the charger is designed to only draw around 6 amps in case other appliances are on the same circuit. In my case, there's nothing else on the same circuit, so I'm wondering whether it's worth buying a third party charger that's capable of drawing the full 10 amps if this would solve the problem. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

We have the same version and yes the same 1.3 to 1.4kW from the granny charger. We have 3 phase power to our house here and so after looking at the cost of installing a charger I went a slightly different route.

I got a 3phase 32amp outlet installed on the meter box... which happens to be where we park the car. Then got a Portable 3 phase charger from INCHARGEx which is a 3phase 32amp charger with a 3 phase plug on the end (portable) so this means the all the cost of paying a electrician and adding the cost of a socket and isolation switch I know have a useful 3phase plug as well as a charger. The charger only cost $380 plus the install... which for us, was part of a Solar system upgrade which was funded by the $6000 rebate we got from the car. So we can charge at around 6 to 7kW at a fairly cheap price.

INCHARGEx Premium 32A 5 Pin 7kW EV Charger | Single Phase | Type2 EVSE

Power up your EV with INCHARGEx's 32 Amp Portable EV Charger, offering 7.6kW charging power and Type 2 compatibility. Ideal for Tesla, BYD, and MG, this charger is perfect for home, office, or travel across Australia. With adjustable current, a 32 Amp single-phase plug, it’s your top-rated...

inchargex.com.au

Just in case you don't know... the 51 kWh car only charges on one of the pins in the car socket (open the charging door and you can see the middle pin is metal and the other 2 are dummy) so you can only charge at around the 6 to 7kW as you are only charging on one pin and not at 21kW if you could use all 3 pins on the car.

 

[leonkernan]

Hi. I finally got delivery of my MG4 Excite 51 last week.
Generally very happy with it so far. I'm planning to install a fast charger at home some point, but in the meantime I've been relying on the 'Granny Charger'. I'm finding this much slower than expected. I assumed it would draw 10 amps and therefore charge at around 2.4kW. The charge rate I'm getting is much less than this at around 1.4kw though. What charging speeds are other people getting?
I'm wondering if there's a problem with my charger and/or car.
I'm wondering whether the charger is designed to only draw around 6 amps in case other appliances are on the same circuit. In my case, there's nothing else on the same circuit, so I'm wondering whether it's worth buying a third party charger that's capable of drawing the full 10 amps if this would solve the problem. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Pretty sure the MG charger runs at 8 amps. The rate you're seeing is about what I see too.

I bought a 15amp capable charger and currently running it at 8 amps through an adapter on a 10 amp socket. It gets close to the same speed as the MG one like that.

 

[wattmatters]

the 'Granny Charger'. I'm finding this much slower than expected. I assumed it would draw 10 amps and therefore charge at around 2.4kW. The charge rate I'm getting is much less than this at around 1.4kw though. What charging speeds are other people getting?

That's typical for the supplied charger. It's max 8A, and the conversion has losses plus the car also often uses some power for other functions while charging (e.g. charging the 12 V battery) so ~1.4 kW getting into the battery is pretty normal.

It'll add ~ 8km/h.

I guess they are catering for the lowest common denominator when it comes to available power supply.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Which charge solution makes sense depends on a range of factors:

• how far and how often the car is driven
• where it is parked / availability of power
• number of vehicles to be charged
• the home's available power delivery capacity
• whether you have solar PV and wish to preferentially use that
• what electricity supply tariffs you have available
• how much charging automation you want
• security
• budget

For some the granny works just fine.

Others choose a similar type of charge unit but one which can deliver more power.

Others install higher capacity power outlets (15A, 20A, 32A) to charge at faster rates with a portable charge unit, while some will install dedicated wall or post mounted EVSE using a dedicated 32 A circuit (single or 3-phase).

Then there is how the charging is controlled:

• dumb charging (just plug it in and that's it)
• manual charge control (where you manually adjust charge setting in the car/via the app)
• automated systems which charge based on a range of user controllable parameters (might be time of day, availability of excess solar PV, electricity tariffs, wholesale electricity price response, grid CO₂ emission levels etc.

 

[markinoz]

We have the same version and yes the same 1.3 to 1.4kw from the granny charger. We have 3phase power to our house here and so after looking at the cost of installing a charger I went a slightly different route.

I got a 3phase 32amp outlet installed on the meter box... which happens to be where we park the car. Then got a Portable 3 phase charger from INCHARGEx which is a 3phase 32amp charger with a 32phase plug on the end (portable) so this means the all the cost of paying a electrician and adding the cost of a socket and isolation switch I know have a useful 3phase plug as well as a charger. The charger only cost $380 plus the install... which for us, was part of a Solar system upgrade which was funded by the $6000 rebate we got from the car. So we can charge at around 6 to 7kw at a fairly cheap price.

INCHARGEx Premium 32A 5 Pin 7kW EV Charger | Single Phase | Type2 EVSE

Power up your EV with INCHARGEx's 32 Amp Portable EV Charger, offering 7.6kW charging power and Type 2 compatibility. Ideal for Tesla, BYD, and MG, this charger is perfect for home, office, or travel across Australia. With adjustable current, a 32 Amp single-phase plug, it’s your top-rated...

inchargex.com.au

Just incase you don't know... the 51Kw car only charges on one of the pins in the car socket (open the charging door and you can see the middle pin is metal and the other 2 are dummy) so you can only charge at around the 6 to 7kw as you are only charging on one pin and not at 21kw if you could use all 3 pins on the car.

View attachment 22259

Thanks for your response @Calm as .
That's good to know that there's nothing wrong with my charger or car.
Your information was especially useful as I have a very similar set-up.
I also have 3 phase power at home and also charge my car right next to the meter board.
I didn't even realise that it was possible to get a 32 amp power socket. This gives me some useful food for thought. I'll look into the cost of getting a similar set up installed

 

[Calm as]

Thanks for your response @Calm as .
That's good to know that there's nothing wrong with my charger or car.
Your information was especially useful as I have a very similar set-up.
I also have 3 phase power at home and also charge my car right next to the meter board.
I didn't even realise that it was possible to get a 32 amp power socket. This gives me some useful food for thought. I'll look into the cost of getting a similar set up installed

@markinoz no probs... spent plenty of time getting confused but sort of gotten my head around it. the Inchargex guys are in AUS so they are legit and it's done to standards. For me it was a no brainer not to get a wired one in... As good as the MG4 is it may not be my last electric car so I wanted the flexibility to use the same point to charge a different car with different charger... be it not at the same time but at least without as mach as unplugging one charger for another.

 

[ozzz]

Hi. I finally got delivery of my MG4 Excite 51 last week.
Generally very happy with it so far. I'm planning to install a fast charger at home some point, but in the meantime I've been relying on the 'Granny Charger'. I'm finding this much slower than expected. I assumed it would draw 10 amps and therefore charge at around 2.4kW. The charge rate I'm getting is much less than this at around 1.4kw though. What charging speeds are other people getting?
I'm wondering if there's a problem with my charger and/or car.
I'm wondering whether the charger is designed to only draw around 6 amps in case other appliances are on the same circuit. In my case, there's nothing else on the same circuit, so I'm wondering whether it's worth buying a third party charger that's capable of drawing the full 10 amps if this would solve the problem. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Hi I have same car and yes 1.4 kW is all I get , but this works for me as a retired and no time restrictions except walking soccer on Thursday ?
I use the free Tesla charger at local shopping centre when I shop it charges at 6.3 kW that’s today.

 

[Agrajag]

The problem as I see it is there is at least 1 bolt that should be there but isn't.

I was walking down my driveway the other day and found this on the ground:

I looked under the car and found it matched the bolts that were holding the tray up and there was one missing. Amazing that I found it on the driveway and didn't lose it on the road somewhere. I screwed it back in and checked the others, most were loose or only finger tight! I'm taking it in to get looked at for other problems but will definitely mention this to them... Sounds like you've lost one too.

 

[Corindikev]

The bolt that should be there but isn't, is not there because the under tray was designed with that bolt not included. There is nothing for the bolt to bolt to nor a recess or bolt hole in the under tray.

As the under tray is basically a 5mm or thereabouts thick piece of plastic with no ribbing or strengthening in the leading edge for about 400mm allowing it to distort easily.

I am constantly amazed at the discussions in various threads regarding charging equipment and charging speeds.

Firstly all owners should read the specifications before thinking about buying any EVSE equipment.

Secondly and most importantly those who do not understand how electricity works with the 3 main components of Amps (current), Volts (pressure) and Ohms (resistance) and how all this translates to the relationship between cable diameter and material, carrying capacity, energy loss through heat and distance and a myriad of other things electrical, should talk to a competent licenced electrician before doing anything.

There is only 1 model of MG4 that is capable of 3 phase charging & that is the Essence 77. All others are single phase only. This is published in the specifications and on the sales brochure.

The granny charger will only charge the car as fast as the supply from the wall socket will allow and has a rated current of 8 Amps which is 1.84 kW. If this socket is a ring main or has other outlets on a spur cable this will affect the speed as will any extension lead you use so you will get somewhat less than 1.84 kW.

If your electrician knows what he is doing he/she will install the cable thickness capable of delivering a constant 32 amps to the EVSE without overheating. I would not install anything that ran at a temperature of more than 45 degrees. Distance from the supply from the distribution box is critical to determine the diameter of TPS cable to the EVSE.

The maximum that the AC charger in the car can accept from the supply is 6.6 kW. The maximum that a single phase EVSE can supply is 7.4 kW. Some of that is lost as heat depending upon the length of the cable to the car. If you have one check how warm it gets while the car is charging.

I get a constant 6.59kW as reported from the car charger by the iSmart app.

 

[Rolfe]

I use my granny charger all the time, and typically see 1.87 kW charging. But I'm not in Australia. I reckon on 10% battery fill for every three hours on charge, but it's actually a bit more than that.

 

[Corindikev]

While the nominal voltage is 230, the IEC standard allows for +10% to -6% so 8 amps can be from 2.02 kW to 1.73 kW so 1.87 kW is about 234 volts at 8 amps.

In NSW Australia voltage is typically between 240 & 250 volts usually at the higher end during the day when there are a lot of PV systems feeding the grid from rooftop solar.